Automationtechies.com e-News - December 3, 2003

Rockwell Automation celebrated Allen-Bradley's 100 year birthday recently by hosting Automation Fair in their home town of Milwaukee, WI. This year about 14,000 people attended the show...that rivals the attendance of National trade shows like ISA and NMW. Since it was so close to my own home town, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to mix business with pleasure by also visiting my family. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get to Milwaukee until Thursday, the last day of Automation Fair. But that actually worked out well as Siemens was also hosting members of the press that morning to introduce a number of machine and process safety products.

Siemens has formed Safety Integrated� U.S.A., a new organization to maximize safety integrated technologies across all U.S. automation product lines. These technologies are applied to both discrete and process industries and include PLCs, sensors, industrial control products, motion control and drives. One of their first major announcements introduces the Simatic S7 PLC as the World's first PLC to be certified by UL for safety related control applications. Even if you're using another manufacturers' PLC, you can make your machine/process safe by incorporating devices on PROFIBUS or AS-Interface fieldbus systems using safety-related communications and a Safety Monitor. Use the embedded links above for more information on these Siemens announcements. Oh, and next year you can catch the Siemens Technology Train at one of 10 US cities...first stop is Chicago at NMW.

After the Siemens press conference, I headed over to Automation Fair and was amazed that the show floor was still swarming with attendees. I made my usual rounds and visited with a number of exhibitors, all of which are Rockwell Encompass Partners. Encompass Partners are companies that Rockwell has partnered with to bring complete product offerings and/or solution to their customers. Most exhibitors claimed that Automation Fair is, by far, the best show of the year for them. And with good reason. This show had less than 100 exhibitors with the same attendance of the major national shows. Crunch the numbers and that translates into more leads per exhibitor.

If you didn't get to attend Automation Fair to see what's new, check out our Automation Fair News page with a number of product announcements and news releases from Rockwell Automation and a few of their Encompass Partners.

Happy Holidays!

Enjoy the rest of this e-news!

Featured Article

Voltage Awareness Devices Increase Electrical Safety

Increased awareness and better procedures increase safety. Personnel may still be at risk if there is a failure of the procedures, a failure of an isolation device (disconnect or circuit breaker), or other energy control problems. A voltage awareness device that is wired into electrical panel main isolator and/or other incoming power sources will increase safety for electrical maintenance personnel.

Read full article by Philip Allen of Grace Engineered Products.

Other articles and white papers on various automation topics.

Automation & Process Control News

News Headlines - Automation, Process Control & Instrumentation News

Hear all about it! We publish industry news on our site as soon as we hear about it. Check out our Daily News Headlines page frequently to stay up-to-date on the industry events. Here are news headlines since our last e-news. Use the following links to read the complete news release:

Product News Headlines:

Company News Headlines:

Application News Headlines:

These are just a few of the news items published on our website. Our Automation News section provides you up-to-date news of what is happening with product and services suppliers in the industry. Users can search for releases by company or by date. View Daily News Headlines Here. Send your automation news releases to press@automationtechies.com. Please provide press releases in electronic format (pictures can be provided in .JPG or .GIF format).

Poll Question

Online Product Purchasing in 2004

How much automation and control equipment do you expect to buy via the Internet in 2004? Please visit our home page and let us know how much equipment you plan to purchase online next year. The poll question and results are located on the right-hand side of the home page about half-way down.

Thanks in advance for your feedback!

Application Tools, Guides, Demos & Literature

Open Architecture PLC Selection Guide

SoftPLC Corporation, as a specialist in PLC controls, offers this PLC selection guide. Whether a simple machine controller or a sophisticated, integrated factory automation system is required, SoftPLC's open architecture systems can meet your control application needs.

Request your Selection Guide

Sensor, Inspection & Machine Safety Electronic Library

Banner Engineering offers three catalogs in one, easy-to-use CD ROM Electronic Catalog Library covering over 15,000 photoelectric sensing, measurement and inspection, and machine safety products. A convenient search feature enables users to search all three catalogs and price lists at once, providing standard product selection.

Request your CD

Encoder Design Calculator

Does your controller have the bandwidth to handle the data rate of a 5000 cycle-per-turn encoder rotating at 2500 RPM? What resolution should you specify for your encoder to achieve a 0.010" tolerance on a cut-to-length operation? Put the answers to these and other critical questions in the palm of your hand with BEI's new Optical Encoder Design Calculator.
Request your Design Calculator

Other available application tools.

Other available demo software.

Other available product catalogs.

New Job Opportunities

New Jobs Posted on Automationtechies.com

Here's a list of new job opportunities posted on Automationtechies.com since our last newsletter:

To view other recent job postings, please use our Job Search Function.

Automation Auctions

New eBay Listings

Did you know that eBay hosts over 4000 auctions for industrial automation and control products? From PLCs to sensors and from motor controls to robotics...Now you can browse new, used and surplus automation and control products right from Automationtechies.com. We added a new page in the "Classifieds" section of our web site called eBay Listings.

Use the links below to browse auctions and classified ads by product category:

Industry Resources

IndustryDeck

IndustryDeck is an electronic card deck offered by Next Communications introducing some of the latest new products for your automation and process control applications.

Check out the latest issue.

Trade Magazine Subscriptions

As a valued Automationtechies.com member, we would like to extend the opportunity to receive leading industry publications.

Browse from the list of titles and be sure to check back often for new titles.

On a Humorous Note...

Rick's Dilbert Comic Pick

'This is why some corporate "checks and balances" don't work'

Automationtechies' Services

Automationtechies.com Advertising Opportunities - Generate leads and promote your company and products with one of the fastest growing industrial automation and control communities on the web. Review our Media Kit or Contact Rick Zabel.

Article & White Paper Publication - To have your industry-related articles or white papers published on Automationtechies.com, please Contact Rick Zabel for more information.

News Release Publication - To have your company or product news published on Automationtechies.com, please send your press releases to press@automationtechies.com.

Job Posting - Post your job openings on Automationtechies.com and find out why we're the industry's preferred resource for posting automation, process control and instrumentation job opportunities. Post Your Job.

Direct-hire Recruiting - Our industry experts will seek out and pre-screen the top performers. If your resources are limited or if time is a factor, we'll find the talent you need. Contact Alan Carty today for more information at 1-877-300-6792 or Send a message

Contract Recruiting, Employer of Record Services - Need engineers, programmers, or technicians, but can't hire full-time employees? Consider contract employees! Let us handle your administrative headaches including Employer of Record, payroll, and other functions. Find a Contract Employee

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We hope you enjoyed this e-news update!

Rick Zabel

Vice President

www.automationtechies.com

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